Human Rights Warriors Expose Worldwide Abuses in Ross Kauffman Documentary E-TEAM

Ross Kauffman burst onto the documentary scene with his captivating film Born Into Brothels: Calcutta’s Red Light Kids – which won the 2005 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Since then he’s gone on to produce and direct several more documentaries and discusses his latest project E-Team, which profiles an amazing group of emergency workers dispatched to dangerous hotspots to investigate human rights crises around the world.

The film focuses on a four-person team for the private watchdog Human Rights Watch - Anna, Ole, Fred and Peter – who are very different in personality, but share a fearless spirit and deep commitment to exposing and halting human rights abuses all over the world.

“They were wonderful. They were so diverse, they were so charismatic, in a humble way,” said Kauffman about meeting the group for the first time over dinner. “And we just said, there’s a film here.”

Kauffman, who co-directed the film with Katy Chevigny (Deadline, Election Day), said the film took him to chaotic, war-torn Libya in September 2011, along with Peter and Fred, just as the rebels had made it into Tripoli. He recalls at one point getting to know James Foley, who was initially abducted in Syria and later beheaded in August 2014, becoming the first U.S. citizen executed by ISIS.

“We hired him to shoot some footage for us in Libya, and he did a great job, and we all know what happened,” Kauffman said about Foley, who was on another assignment in Syria when he was captured, not working on E-Team.

The film – which deals with human rights operations in Syria, Libya and Kosovo – sheds light on the complexity of today’s world events. “It’s interesting with ISIS, it’s interesting with all these incredibly complicated subjects. The one thing you learn is how complicated they really are,” Kauffman said.

“We all look at this as black and white – obviously ISIS is doing horrific things, we all know that. But these investigations are very clear, there are atrocities going on on both sides. They look at both sides of every single conflict, they really try to cover their bases.”

The film shows the relationship of Anna and Ole, who are married, and actually met while they were detained together on a human rights mission. Kauffman said it was important for him to try and show the “humor and humanity” of the central figures, to convey that they are just like everybody else in their personal lives.

The documentary also delves into the incredibly detailed and complex research that goes into the team’s work to uncover human rights atrocities.

“It’s not just about the death and the destruction, it’s about the laughter, it’s about the joy, all these things come out,” he said. “We really wanted to focus on the humanity and let people relate to these incredible characters as human beings.”

Katy Chevigny also joins the interview via remote from New York and is asked about working as a team with Kauffman.

“Some people did ask us, ‘Why do you co-direct?’ And to be honest, it’s really nice to have some camaraderie in all of those dark years when you’re like, is this really going to be a movie?” she said. “When you’re in development, trying to get your first money. It’s just so demoralizing, and a lot of the time you think it’s never going to happen But if you have a co-director, you can go out and get a sandwich, or a beer, and commiserate.”